Data Shuttle not bringing in column as a number

Debbie Petersen

I have a data shuttle to bring in a csv with numbers and dates. There is one column that is a number (formatted as a number in excel) that populates a column in SS that is a text/number column. I have a formula that uses this column but it does not work because DS is not bringing the data in as a number. I have tried re-mapping the DS on that column to number and that shortened the number.

What am I missing?

Ray Lindstrom

@Debbie Petersen,

Unfortunately Smartsheet does not offer a number column. Only a text/number column.

You will notice however that numbers are right-aligned while text is left-aligned.

Debbie Petersen

Ok - but this is a data shuttle we have had in place for a few years and it suddenly stopped working. We are experiencing this with a lot of our setups in Dynamic View, Control Center, Data Shuttle. It is odd that they work fine for years, months and now all of the sudden they stop. Data Shuttle definitely supports bringing in excel worksheets that have number columns. Unless SS has completely changed their setups and eliminated that.

Ray Lindstrom

Bringing in number columns is supported, but the Smartsheet columns are text/number columns which accept both.

Debbie Petersen

Ok - this is my point - SS is not recognizing the column as containing a number. The formula that relies on the column in question does not work unless I retype the number in the column that was populated by the data shuttle

Ray Lindstrom

Is the number being brought in appearing as left or right aligned before you retype the value? If left-aligned, it's treating it as a string of text.

Debbie Petersen

I just put a call into SS. Thank you

Danielle Wilson

@Debbie Petersen You probably heard this from Support, but you can specify in the Data Shuttle mapping steps whether the imported field values should be "Text" or "Number" - so it might help to specify "Number" instead of "Auto" within the mapping!

Debbie Petersen

Thanks Danielle, I did know that and had the setting. I discovered that the format that was coming out of the other platform had changed and it was not being re-formatted before upload to DS.